


Someone New

by bdr28



Category: Sorted (Website) RPF
Genre: Angst, Jealousy, M/M, Mike notices the small details, No Dialogue, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Relationship, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25634623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bdr28/pseuds/bdr28
Summary: Mike can always tell when James is sleeping with someone new.
Relationships: James Currie/Mike Huttlestone
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	Someone New

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've written RPF, and I've felt a bit guilty about it. Needless to say, this is a fictional piece based on fictional portayals of public figures, who are merely inspiration for the characters. 
> 
> Also, I have at least one (maybe two) other fics in progress but I wrote this one today in an hour and felt I needed to post it. The other(s) I'm working on are much happier.

Mike can always tell when James is sleeping with someone new.

It’s not that James tells them anything. Of course he wouldn’t. Mike knows the ideas people have of James. That he’s quiet, voice an almost-whisper when he doesn’t want the focus on him. He blushes easily, and often. He’s also tactile: casual touches, an arm over your shoulder or around your waist, gentle corrections. He’s impatient, but only when a dish is involved, and only when he knows it’s appropriate. He offers praise when he can tell it’s sorely needed and genuinely deserved. He joins in with laughter and unfeigned smiles, and he can be loud and boisterous when the occasion calls for it, or when he’s been binge-watching too much Queer Eye on Netflix.* 

He’s not closed off, except that he never shares anything about himself. Never volunteers information about what is new in his life. When they commiserate, James responds with wisdom or laughter or a playful jab, but never a disastrous story of his own.

So Mike knows James won’t say a word. Mike just watches closely enough to recognize the signs. James starts coming into work later. Not late, just later than his normal routine. James is usually one of the first in the office, arriving before the rest to get everything prepped and ready for the day. Mike wouldn’t have known, preferring to sleep in, except that he’d made a goal to go to the gym before work every morning for two months. When James walks in one morning, Mike glances at the time in the corner of his computer monitor and notes that it’s nearly 40 minutes later than usual. Mike starts to keep an eye on the time, and finds James is late every single day that week. 

James smiles to himself more while he’s working. Not a grin, just a subtle tug on his lips as he chops his veg or scribbles notes. He appears looser, more relaxed. Mike sees him singing just under his breath, subtle movements of his body along with the song in his head as he stirs a sauce on the hob. He seems happy.

James leaves promptly in the evenings. He doesn’t linger in the lab to perfect his latest recipes or trade ideas with Ben and the others. He turns down invitations to the pub, makes excuses to get out of social gatherings. Always in a hurry to leave.

Sometimes, Mike will spot a hickey just under the collar of his chef’s jacket. Faint red marks on his wrists. Once, during a quick change, scratches down his back. Mike can’t help but stare. James pretends not to notice, unable to help the blush that turns his face and ears red. He doesn’t acknowledge it. Still says nothing. Volunteers no details. Has no idea what seeing these things is doing to Mike.

He even smells like them. James usually smells quite nice- a subtle, masculine scent that Mike can’t place except that it’s James. Once, Mike reaches around James for a pinch of salt and breathes in a sickly-sweet almost-candy-like scent on his skin. Another, he brushes past him at his desk only to catch a delicate and floral vanilla. James wraps an arm around him during a video, and Mike is distracted by a leathery, woodsy scent. He realizes after a moment that he’s missed something, and they have to restart the take.

If Mike were a better person, he wouldn’t find his belly filled with a tinge of bitterness each time he starts to notice the signs. He’d be happy that James was happy. He’d enjoy seeing him carefree and smiling. He might even pry a bit and ask his mate for details. He wouldn’t want to scream and shout and tug his hair and kick things. He wouldn’t try to drown himself in editing, headphones on and firmly turned away so as not to catch a glimpse, aware that it was because of someone else that James was smiling.

If Mike were a better person, he wouldn’t go out to the bars on a weeknight, looking for someone to take him home so that he can forget about James for a few hours. It doesn’t work, even when he’s with someone else. He still thinks of him. Thinks that maybe James will see the signs on him too. Will feel that rush of jealousy too. Will finally realize that Mike is the one he wants to be waking up with, and going home to, and smiling about.

Mike recognizes the signs when James is sleeping with someone new. And it ruins him just a little bit more every time.

**Author's Note:**

> * In the "2 Chefs 1 Pizza Oven" video, James is acting a bit ridiculous (see: adorable) and says something along the lines of, "I know why I'm acting like this. I just watched my first episode of Queer Eye last night, and I loved it!"

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Someone New [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26570740) by [paraka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paraka/pseuds/paraka)




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